Hello, hello, Inglês na Ponta da Língua fans and friends. Here we are again with another edition of our Inglês na Ponta da Língua Podcast. My name’s Denilso de Lima, I’m an EFL/ESL teacher trainer in Brazil, and the one responsible for the blog Inglês na Ponta da Língua. In case you want to download the MP3 and PDF files for this podcast, just go to denilsodelima.blogspot.com . You can also keep improving you English language skills by liking our fanpage on Facebook, for that just visit facebook.com/denilsodelima . Well, today we are going to talk about the meaning and use of the expression “a total crock”. But before that, let me tell you about one of the funniest things about languages. There is this strange phenomenon that makes words change their meanings from time to time. This is actually how languages develop throughout history. A good example of this is the word “nice”. Did you know that back in the 13 th century “nice” meant “foolish”, “stupid”, senseless”. Weird, huh? Now, why “nice” meant “stupid” at that time? Well, to cut a long story short, “nice” comes from the Latin word “nescius”, which means “ignorant”. Well, I guess you know the word “néscio” in Portuguese, don’t you? “Néscio” is a synonym of “ignorante”, “imbecil”, “idiota”, “otário”. If we go through the whole facts about the history of “nice”, we’re going to spend like an hour talking about it. There are moments in history that we don’t even know the real meaning of the word “nice” when used by authors on their books. It could mean anything like “stupid”, “extravagant”, “elegant”, “strange”, “modest”, “shy”. It was only in the middle of the 18 th century, around 1769 to be more precise, that the word “nice” started to be used in the sense of “pleasant”, “agreeable”, “delightful”. Nowadays, as we all know, “nice” is defined as “pleasant, enjoyable or attractive. Learning the history of the word “nice” is really really nice. It helps you understand why some native English language speakers don’t like being described as “nice”. I actually had a friend from England who hated being called “nice”. Every time someone said she was nice, she didn’t like it. She would prefer being called anything but “nice”. Well, anyway, I don’t want to spend the whole time here talking about “nice”. The real goal here today is to teach you the meaning of the expression “a total crock”. Copyright © Denilso de Lima – http://denilsodelima.blogspot.com Este material pode ser reproduzido desde que não seja modificado Inglês na Ponta da Língua O jeito mais descomplicado de aprender inglês “Crock”, in standard English, is a container used for storing food. In Portuguese, it can be translated as “ pote ”, “ jarro ” or “ moringa ”. It’s believed that at the end of the rainbow there’s even a crock of gold. No one has ever gotten it. So, if that’s true or not, we may never know. Well, well, but what does that have to do with “total crock”. The thing is: the word “crock” is also used, nowadays, as an American slang word meaning something that you don’t believe, accept or agree with. It’s not a polite word. Some people even take is as an offensive word. So, you, as an English second language learner, should not make use of it. In Portuguese, we can translate “crock” as “besteira”, “bobagem”, “asneira”. Unfortunately, we don’t have a word that represents how offensive “crock” is. Now, you might be wondering why it is offensive. “A crock” is actually as a short form of the expression “a crock of shit”, which means the same as “a bunch of lies”, “a load of bullshit”, “a load of humbug”, etc. Having said that, I have to warn you that “shit” is one of the most offensive words in English and saying “a crock” makes people think of the whole expression “a crock of shit”. Now, I guess you can get the whole point of this expression. That is, if “crock”, in standard English, means a container, imagine a “crock of shit”. Consequently, describing what someone says as “a total crock” is not a good thing at all. I would say that in Portuguese we do have a translation for it. Sometimes you may say, “que monte de m*rda você está falando ”. Anyway, never ever use any of these expressions. You can learn them so as to understand them, but please never use them. You are a polite person. So, you have to say polite things. There you go some of them to help you: What a bunch of lies! That’s a total baloney! What a bunk! That’s cow chips! That’s a load of hooey. Well, that’s all for today. I hope you’ve enjoyed listening to this podcast. Get ready for the next one, ok? And don’t forget to like our fanpage on Facebook, just go to facebook.com/denilsodelima and like it. Oh! You can also go to our blog and watch a video clip on which Al Pacino uses the expression “a crock of shit” in court. The URL for our blog is denilsodelima.blogspot.com. Bye bye, guys!
quinta-feira, 1 de março de 2012
“a total crock”
Hello, hello, Inglês na Ponta da Língua fans and friends. Here we are again with another edition of our Inglês na Ponta da Língua Podcast. My name’s Denilso de Lima, I’m an EFL/ESL teacher trainer in Brazil, and the one responsible for the blog Inglês na Ponta da Língua. In case you want to download the MP3 and PDF files for this podcast, just go to denilsodelima.blogspot.com . You can also keep improving you English language skills by liking our fanpage on Facebook, for that just visit facebook.com/denilsodelima . Well, today we are going to talk about the meaning and use of the expression “a total crock”. But before that, let me tell you about one of the funniest things about languages. There is this strange phenomenon that makes words change their meanings from time to time. This is actually how languages develop throughout history. A good example of this is the word “nice”. Did you know that back in the 13 th century “nice” meant “foolish”, “stupid”, senseless”. Weird, huh? Now, why “nice” meant “stupid” at that time? Well, to cut a long story short, “nice” comes from the Latin word “nescius”, which means “ignorant”. Well, I guess you know the word “néscio” in Portuguese, don’t you? “Néscio” is a synonym of “ignorante”, “imbecil”, “idiota”, “otário”. If we go through the whole facts about the history of “nice”, we’re going to spend like an hour talking about it. There are moments in history that we don’t even know the real meaning of the word “nice” when used by authors on their books. It could mean anything like “stupid”, “extravagant”, “elegant”, “strange”, “modest”, “shy”. It was only in the middle of the 18 th century, around 1769 to be more precise, that the word “nice” started to be used in the sense of “pleasant”, “agreeable”, “delightful”. Nowadays, as we all know, “nice” is defined as “pleasant, enjoyable or attractive. Learning the history of the word “nice” is really really nice. It helps you understand why some native English language speakers don’t like being described as “nice”. I actually had a friend from England who hated being called “nice”. Every time someone said she was nice, she didn’t like it. She would prefer being called anything but “nice”. Well, anyway, I don’t want to spend the whole time here talking about “nice”. The real goal here today is to teach you the meaning of the expression “a total crock”. Copyright © Denilso de Lima – http://denilsodelima.blogspot.com Este material pode ser reproduzido desde que não seja modificado Inglês na Ponta da Língua O jeito mais descomplicado de aprender inglês “Crock”, in standard English, is a container used for storing food. In Portuguese, it can be translated as “ pote ”, “ jarro ” or “ moringa ”. It’s believed that at the end of the rainbow there’s even a crock of gold. No one has ever gotten it. So, if that’s true or not, we may never know. Well, well, but what does that have to do with “total crock”. The thing is: the word “crock” is also used, nowadays, as an American slang word meaning something that you don’t believe, accept or agree with. It’s not a polite word. Some people even take is as an offensive word. So, you, as an English second language learner, should not make use of it. In Portuguese, we can translate “crock” as “besteira”, “bobagem”, “asneira”. Unfortunately, we don’t have a word that represents how offensive “crock” is. Now, you might be wondering why it is offensive. “A crock” is actually as a short form of the expression “a crock of shit”, which means the same as “a bunch of lies”, “a load of bullshit”, “a load of humbug”, etc. Having said that, I have to warn you that “shit” is one of the most offensive words in English and saying “a crock” makes people think of the whole expression “a crock of shit”. Now, I guess you can get the whole point of this expression. That is, if “crock”, in standard English, means a container, imagine a “crock of shit”. Consequently, describing what someone says as “a total crock” is not a good thing at all. I would say that in Portuguese we do have a translation for it. Sometimes you may say, “que monte de m*rda você está falando ”. Anyway, never ever use any of these expressions. You can learn them so as to understand them, but please never use them. You are a polite person. So, you have to say polite things. There you go some of them to help you: What a bunch of lies! That’s a total baloney! What a bunk! That’s cow chips! That’s a load of hooey. Well, that’s all for today. I hope you’ve enjoyed listening to this podcast. Get ready for the next one, ok? And don’t forget to like our fanpage on Facebook, just go to facebook.com/denilsodelima and like it. Oh! You can also go to our blog and watch a video clip on which Al Pacino uses the expression “a crock of shit” in court. The URL for our blog is denilsodelima.blogspot.com. Bye bye, guys!
